New Town Centre Police Team launched for Lewisham Central and Rushey Green

Cllr Brenda Dacres, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, and Cllr James-J Walsh, Ward Councillor for Rushey Green, with officers from the new team

Lewisham Central and Rushey Green is one of 12 areas across the capital being given extra police teams in busy parts of London.

The new team is led by Inspector Chris Toms and consists of one Inspector, three Sergeants, 21 Constables and four PCSOs. The team will be patrolling alongside the existing safer communities police team already in place for this area.

The new team’s priority is to make Lewisham safer through proactive patrols, enhanced local partnerships and improved community engagement.

Cllr Brenda Dacres, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Safer Communities said:

“It is excellent news that Lewisham Central and Rushey Green will have a brand new police team specifically for this part of the borough. Local ward councillors have worked very hard to help get this funding secured and we all look forward to ongoing close work with our partners at the Metropolitan Police.

“As a Council, we continue to fund and support public health and substance misuse programmes across the Borough with the aim of rehabilitating and breaking the cycles of serious crime. In Lewisham, we are extremely committed to tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) and have launched out new five-year VAWG strategy at our Domestic Violence Summit this week.”

Cllr James-J Walsh, Ward Councillor for Rushey Green said:

“Over the last decade, central government cuts have seen up to £1billion stripped from The Met’s budget despite policing the capital getting harder. Having listened to local residents and businesses, we’ve worked hard, despite Government austerity, to secure this additional investment, because here in Lewisham we are serious about tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, and this new resource will make a real difference locally. As councillors, we welcome the new Town Centre team, an investment of 29 more officers working with our local community to keep Lewisham and Catford safe.”

Inspector Chris Toms, Lewisham Metropolitan Police said:

“Tackling Violence against Women and Girls is one of the driving forces behind the Commissioner creating the new Town Centre Teams and we are looking forward to supporting this area in Lewisham and providing reassurance, visibility and increased community engagement. We are keen to meet with local councillors, residents and businesses to discuss any concerns and let them know about the work that our team will be doing. Each of our officers will be issued with mobile phones to help them liaise with local people. With our partners, we will be running stalls in this area from next month onwards to be as accessible as possible to the local community.”